Seriously though, perhaps this is a sign we're moving on from the goal post moving prices for the Brazilian chap Anderson? If rumours are correct, at least this guy has other clubs after him and he hasnt got a 40M price tag either

I know this will definitely divide opinion (with most saying no) but, in light of Lanzinis injury, bringing Ravel back might be a good thing....

He's obviously got talent and a bit of that X factor you cant teach players. Perhaps, after his trials and tribulations, theres a realization that he only gets so many chances and he has to pull his finger out, mature, put that effort in instead of relying on his Ravel Man Utd reputation.

He won't cost much and, if it doesnt work out, then we arent going to have lost much. Bringing him in to train pre season on a short contract and seeing whether hes now up for that challenge seems like a low risk option to me.

I'm all for 'next level' signings, but Kovacic is beyond our next level. I hope we're not falling into the trap of pursuing players that, even if we do agree a deal with their clubs, will have no intention of joining us.

If Kovacic is leaving Real, it will be for a team that has European football next season.

My worry is that Pellegrini has not come here to settle for second best. He will (rightly) want the signings to take us up the league. That requires money. You don't pay a manager like him, with league titles, £7m a year to settle for mid-table/top 10. He will be looking to break into that top 8/7 & quite rightly. If he wasn't aiming for that then he shouldn't be here.

Whether the owners have the finance to give him the couple of signings he wants. I mean, he's already on record as saying the squad is strong (albeit before Lanzini got injured) & that he only wanted to add 4/5 players to the mix. We already have 3, leaving 2/3 more (3 probably to replace Lanzini). He probably wants one big money signing to raise our levels.

People like Kovacic & Anderson seem to be beyond us at the moment, & I think they always will be under the current board. We're probably a club who can spend £25m-£30m on one player at a push, but beyond that is never realistically going to happen. There will always be a stumbling block somewhere.

Didn't Sullivan say that as a club we're asset rich but cash poor? If that's true in a world where we're seeing record TV money and a record profit in the last financial year, then we have no chance of competing regularly with the top six under his and Gold's stewardship.

Kovacic is unrealistic. Anderson is this year's Carvalho.

I think £30m is probably our top whack too. Diop may eventually cost us £20m+, but I would imagine Toulouse have accepted half of that upfront and the rest in payments, but when it comes to the big purchases - the £30m+ deals - I just don't think Sullivan has the cash (or possibly the will) to finance them.

I also would expect him to raise the games of several players; Reid (hope he stays & gets fit), Cresswell, Kouyate, Obiang, Antonio, Hernandez (should he stay) etc, players who didn't perform anywhere near their levels last season (arguably the year before too).

Then with Carroll (IF we get half a season out of him, even if off the bench), Noble, Ogbonna, Masuaku, Zabaleta, Arnie etc, we have a reasonable squad of players there, but it requires all of them to go from 5/10s to 7/10s on a more regular basis. Hopefully Diop & Fredericks add to the squad, but they are risks in the sense they have no PL experience.

Would just be nice to spend a reasonable amount of money on two creative players, then maybe look for a DM on loan etc, just to balance out the squad. We can't do it all in one window. I'd like to think by the close of next seasons summer window we'll have a much more rounded squad. But at the moment we have no creativity in the side. If you say Lanzini is worth £30m & Mario £25m, that's over £50m (minimum) of creative talent we've lost.